New Reports of Botryosphaeriaceae Species Causing Postharvest Fruit Rot of Garcinia humilis in Brazil

Achachairu (Garcinia humilis) is a fruit crop with its centre of origin in the Amazon rainforest region, which has gained prominence in commercialization in several countries in America. In addition to a sweet flavour, it is rich in several vitamins and fibres, making it of interest in the industrial sector. Fungal isolates of the Botryosphaeriaceae were obtained from fruits of G. humilis with symptoms of rot and were identified by concatenated phylogenetic analyses of ITS, TEF1-α, Tub-2 and RPB2 loci. We identified nine isolates as Lasiodiplodia theobromae, nine isolates as Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae, and one isolate as Neofusicoccum batangarum. Three representative isolates of these species were selected for pathogenicity tests in fruits and stems of seedlings. Typical rot symptoms appeared on the inoculated fruits and stems, confirming pathogenicity. To our knowledge, this is the first report of L. theobromae, L. pseudotheobromae, and N. batangarum as the causal agents of fruit rot of G. humilis worldwide.